I.
Overview

Ruled by the Indian National
Congress, Punjab continued to suffer from impunity for
human rights violations institutionalised during the counter
insurgency operations in 1980s and early 1990s. Although
on 11 November 2004, National Human Rights Commission
ordered the Punjab Government to pay compensation of Rs
2.72 crores to the kin of 109 persons who had died in
custody of the police during the insurgency, the NHRC
declined to bring in its ambit all the “police killings”
for inquiry and making public various reports of inquiries
by Central Bureau of Investigation regarding 2,097 cases
referred to it by the Supreme Court for deciding the compensation
aspect.
[1]
The perpetrators responsible for disappearance
of human rights activist, Jaswant Singh Kalra remained
at large.

Although, Punjab has not
been facing an internal armed conflict at present, Punjab
Police personnel were responsible for gross and widespread
human rights violations including arbitrary deprivation
of the right to life, enforced disappearance, arbitrary
detention, torture etc.

Punjab continued to witness
large number of custodial deaths - both in judicial and
police custody as a result of torture. The Punjab State
Human Rights Commission (PSHRC) registered 87 cases of
custodial deaths from 1 January to 30 November 2004.
[2]
On 10 June 2004, Jaspal Singh, a farmer
of border village Dhunna in Amritsar district was killed
at Kalra Police station of Tarn Taran district.
[3]

Torture is endemic and a
part of the administration of justice. The Punjab Police
and the Punjab Vigilance Bureau personnel allegedly harassed
the family members of Jaskaran Singh, whose petition in
the Punjab and Haryana High Court led to the quashing
of illegal selection of seven Deputy Superintendent of
Police (DSP), including sons of the Chief Minister’s media
advisor B I S Chahal and Ferozepur Senior Superintendent
of Police (SSP) Harinder Singh Chahal, on 15 October 2004.
[4]
Earlier on 8 October 2004, the Vigilance
Department registered a false case at Ferozepur, accusing
Kheta Singh, the 68-year-old father and a brother of Jaskaran
Singh of helping a woman get old-age pension of Rs 200
a month though her husband allegedly owned eight acres
land. Vigilance department arrested both and detained
them illegally for 10 days.
[5]
The only action taken by the state
government was the transfer of Ferozepur Vigilance SP,
Inderjit Singh Randhawa on 25 October 2004. This is despite
the fact that Chief Minister Amarinder Singh himself regretted
the arrest of Kheta Singh.
[6]

Prisons in Punjab have virtually
turned into chambers of torture. Undertrial Rocky of Amritsar
Central Security Jail was tattooed “Yeh Chor Hai” (this
one is a thief) on the night of 30 June 2004 for demanding
food according to the jail manual. A deputy Superintendent
and a jail doctor of Jalandar Central Jail inscribed “choorraa”
[7]
(lower caste) on the back of another
under-trial and a Dalit, Malkiat Singh on the night of
2 July 2004 for demanding medical treatment. Relatives
of ailing inmates needed to bribe the medical staff of
the jails to get their kin referred to civil hospital
for proper medical treatment.
[8]

Women continued to face
violence. Rano of Bhattian village in Patiala district
allegedly became a victim of “honour killings” for eloping
with a boy from another community.
[9]
The family members, especially women
of the migrant workers, faced sexual assault and harassment.

The Dalits faced all forms
of discrimination from the denial of minimum wages to
the denial of entry into temples, land grabbing and killings
at the hands of the upper castes. Often police personnel
are involved in the atrocities. On 3 August 2004, two
Dalits identified as Gurjant Singh and Harminder Singh
were killed and 15 others were injured when a group of
landlords opened indiscriminate firing on a basti (settlement)
of the Dalits at Kamalpur village near Dirba in Sangrur
district following a quarrel among the children of the
Dalits and the landlords.
[10]

Children also faced illegal
detention and torture both at the hands of the police
and the school teachers who routinely award corporal punishment.
Three minor children - Sonia (13), Suman (12) and Gagandeep
(10), grandchildren of Atam Prakash of Raikot in Ludhiana
district were allegedly detained illegally and treated
inhumanly at Chheharta police station in Amritsar on 5
and 6 July 2004.
[11]
Subsequent inquiries by the police found the
allegations to be true.